Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what discussions she has had with HMRC on the potential impact of flexible working arrangements on (a) length of call wait times, (b) stability of phone and WiFi connections, (c) privacy and (d) ease of call escalation for customers.

HMRC supports flexible working. HMRC expects most colleagues to spend a minimum of 60% of their working time in the office. They can spend up to 40% of their time working at home if they wish, provided they can do their job effectively from home and this fits with the department’s needs.

Analysis shows that HMRC customer advisers are similarly productive at home and in the office. Advisers answered 15.9 calls on average per day at home, compared to 16.3 in the office (based on data between October 2022 to December 2022).

Staff working from home connect to the HMRC Network via wi-fi (or a wired connection), using a secure and performant VPN Connection. Robust monitoring is in place that provides full visibility of both the connection performance and call quality, for all HMRC devices and calls.

HMRC colleagues are held to the same performance expectations whether they are working in the office or at home, and receive the same induction and mandatory learning around data protection and security.

Escalations/ call transfers can take place between a variety of HMRC teams in multiple locations. The systems used by colleagues working from home have the same functionality as those used when working in the office. Therefore there is no impact on call escalation for customers.